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Public Services
David E. Schmersal, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Chair

STEERING COMMITTEE

• David Schmersal, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 
Chair

• Kaeley McMahan, Wake Forest University
• Gerrit van Dyk, Brigham Young University

MEMBERS PRESENT

• David Schmersal, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 
Chair

• Donna Church, Concordia Seminary (St. Louis, MO)
• Jane Elder, Southern Methodist University
• Daniel Flores, Western Theological Seminary
• Sharon Gardoski, Clarks Summit University
• Steve Jamieson, Covenant Theological Seminary
• Denise McFarlin, Atla
• Kaeley McMahan, Wake Forest University
• Elizabeth Young Miller, Morvian College & Theological Seminary
• Juliana Morley, Biola University
• Jude Morrissey, Yale University
• Charlotte Nahon, Atla
• Steve Perisho, Seattle Pacific University
• Mary-Carol Riehs, Garrett Theological Seminary
• Alexis Weiss, Loyola Marymount University
• Brian Wright, Colorado Christian University

AGENDA

1) Update on Websites for Religion LibGuide
2) Touching base/catching up 
3) Group discussion: How has the quarantine/COVID-19 affected 

your public services (circulation, reference)? Do you foresee 
any lasting changes?

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18  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

1) Update on Websites for Religion LibGuide
After Atla assumed ownership of the Websites on Religion list created 
by Charles Bullinger and formerly maintained by the Wabash Center, 
Atla hired Jim Darlack to convert this content into a Libguide, avail-
able on Atla’s website. Christine Fruin of Atla has asked members of 
the Public Services Interest Group and the World Religions Interest 
Group to collaborate with other members of Atla and of the wider 
realm of religious and theological studies to develop and maintain 
this LibGuide going forward.

Members of the PSIG and the WRIG met via Zoom on January 23 
to discuss plans for the LibGuide. We have created a spreadsheet to 
help keep track of volunteers and areas of responsibility, and have 
identified two broad roles:

Coordinators:

• recruit and collaborate with content managers;
• vet websites proposed by content managers to ensure they 

conform with guidelines;
• are responsible for broader areas of the guide, have admin/

editorial access to the LibGuide, and actually make the changes.

Content managers:

• discover and propose new, relevant websites for under-devel-
oped content areas;

• test existing links on a regular basis to ensure there are no 
broken links.

We have also identified the following criteria for evaluating websites:

• Websites that are sponsored by/affiliated with an academic 
institution or maintained by a faculty member at an institution 
(e.g., Assisting You to Learn).

• Official, organizational websites of various religious groups or 
denominations or historical societies.

• Websites that provide (legal) online access to relevant primary 
sources and to tools that help patrons to make use of such 
sources, such as lexicons (e.g., Perseus Project, CCEL, hymnary.
org).

https://atla.libguides.com/WOR
https://atla.libguides.com/WOR


Interest Group Meetings  19

• Websites that provide access to a variety of texts that reflect 
various perspectives (vs. websites that seek to promote a single 
point of view).

• Websites that are regularly maintained and updated.
• Websites that we have used personally and found helpful (e.g., 

STEP Bible).

Developing this guide to curated, free, open access online resources 
in religion and theology will be useful not only for librarians but also 
for alumni and others who do not have access to subscription data-
bases. It is our hope that the development of this guide will serve as 
a catalyst for the creation of additional stand-alone guides that will 
facilitate exploring individual faith traditions, their history, and their 
sacred texts in greater depth.

2) Touching base/catching up 
Members of the PSIG, and others who joined us for the meeting, took 
turns introducing ourselves and noting our respective institutions. 

3) Group discussion: How has the quarantine/COVID-19 
affected your public services (circulation, reference)? Do you 
foresee any lasting changes?
Members of the group shared how the quarantine prompted by 
COVID-19 has affected our work and some members of the group 
shared examples of guides they have created:

• moravian.libguides.com/onlineresources  [Online Resources 
LibGuide developed by librarians at Moravian]

• libguides.lmu.edu/covid19
• guides.westernsem.edu/covid-19
• guides.garrett.edu/spring-2020-special-resources
• www.covenantseminary.edu/update-on-library-services
• www.projectcora.org/library-collection/radar-challenge

Many members of the group indicated that their schools will be 
offering classes online, in part or entirely,  and that fall orientation 
will be online.

http://moravian.libguides.com/onlineresources
http://libguides.lmu.edu/covid19
http://guides.westernsem.edu/covid-19
http://guides.garrett.edu/spring-2020-special-resources
http://www.covenantseminary.edu/update-on-library-services/
http://www.projectcora.org/library-collection/radar-challenge


20  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

2019–20 GROUP: [pictured, left to right] David Schmersal, Alexis Weiss, Kaeley 
McMahan, Brian Wright, Steve Perisho, Mary-Carol Riehs, Daniel Flores, Sharon 
Gardoski, Elizabeth Young Miller, Jane Elder, Donna Church, Steve Jamieson


